Magic with Professor Lim Sol! (3)

"Don't take it too hard. I'll put you in touch with a guild in France."

"Nah... it's fine. I'll handle it myself. It's related to a French guild anyway."

I shook my head as I watched Lim Sol sip her chocolate latte, sweetened with extra syrup. It wasn't as if we'd done anything that extreme, and I'd enjoyed myself too. There was no reason for her to feel bad.

"Still, hanging out with my disciple has cheered me up a bit."

"Has it? Why were you in a bad mood?"

The slight upward curl of her lips confirmed she really was in a better mood. I seized the opening to ask what I'd been curious about.

"...Haaah."

Lim Sol's eyes narrowed slightly, as if an unpleasant memory had surfaced, but her improved mood seemed enough to loosen her tongue.

"The usual. There's no shortage of gloomy mages out there."

Slurp, slurp. I smiled faintly as I watched her gulp down her chocolate latte like it was water.

"They're just intimidated because they can't measure up to you, Professor."

Flattering Lim Sol wasn't difficult. All I had to do was praise her magic — and it wasn't even a lie. Even I, armed with a broken ability like my Privilege, felt my knees go weak whenever I looked at outliers like Lim Sol or Rebecca. Other mages who looked at her probably felt the same way I did, and plenty of them would feel inferior specifically because their rival was a young woman. There was no shortage of old-fashioned men who couldn't stand the idea of losing to a girl.

"...Anyway, I can't stand mages who have neither the skill nor the pride to back themselves up. Present company excluded, of course."

Judging by her expression, our professor had quite a bit bottled up. She was scowling, jabbing the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ice in her chocolate latte with her straw as if taking out her frustrations on it.

"Especially the ones who act like they're hot shit just because they were born a few years earlier, and the ones who are weaker than me but still talk down to me because they have field experience..."

I sipped the coffee in front of me and listened as she tore into professors I'd never met and field mages I couldn't name. I nodded along in silence for who knows how long. Only after my coffee had run dry and Lim Sol's chocolate latte sat empty did the gossip finally come to an end.

"...Haaah."

Slurrrp. Looking somewhat relieved, Lim ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Sol stuck a straw into a fresh chocolate latte. She rattled the cup that now held nothing but ice, pushed it aside, and looked at me.

"Tsk. Sorry for dumping all that on you when you can't even do anything about it. What a sorry excuse for a teacher I am."

At least she seemed a little remorseful about taking her frustrations out on her disciple. To keep her from feeling awkward, I doubled down with even more nonsense.

"Don't be. Those bastards are the ones in the wrong. There's no way you did anything to deserve that, Professor. Bunch of assholes."

"Ahem. What kind of language is that in front of your professor? 'Those bastards,' really?"

Lim Sol snorted a laugh, took a sip of her new chocolate latte, then propped her chin on her hand.

"So, are you going to tell me why you're going to France, or not?"

"Uuuh..."

I'd thought she was going to let it slide. Apparently not. How should I play this?

I quickly ran through the consequences of telling Lim Sol the truth. It wasn't as if I was committing a crime. All I had to say was, I'm going to investigate the Centaur. If she asked why, I could just claim it was for magical research.

But what if Lim Sol wants to come along?

A normal person wouldn't, but Lim Sol was obsessed with magical research. It wasn't out of the question.

Then maybe I should throw an acquaintance under the bus?

An acquaintance who existed and yet didn't. I could use Liliana. And if she decided to look into this acquaintance of mine?

Just as I was turning that over in my head, Lim Sol's hand appeared in front of my face. A light snap of her fingers sent a gentle pulse of mana washing over me. It ruffled through my hair like a spring breeze, as if telling me to stop overthinking.

I lifted my head and met her eyes. She was smiling at me with something almost maternal.

"Don't push yourself too hard."

"..."

"You're still a student. Even if people call you a genius mage, you're supposed to be having fun at your age... wait, no. You already play around plenty. In that case, if something's giving you trouble, just come talk to me. Got it?"

"Mm-hmm." She nodded along to her own words, making the same little sound of agreement.

"I was the same, you know. There was a moment when I realized I was different from everyone else."

"...You, Professor?"

The unexpectedly serious turn caught me off guard, and I focused on every word.

"Yeah. To be precise, it was from the first time I ever used magic."

I'd asked her about this once before, back in the lab. Reporters had been swarming me at the time — it was right after I'd first demonstrated dual-element magic at the festival. So I'd asked Professor Lim Sol how to handle their questions. Specifically, what the reaction had been when she first revealed she could use every elemental affinity.

This was how she'd answered:

I couldn't begin to imagine the scrutiny, the jealousy, and the crushing expectations she must have faced because of that. A once-in-a-generation talent, in the truest sense of the phrase. The kind of genius whose very existence made you question how someone like that could even be born.

"So what I'm trying to say is... haaah. Don't worry about other people. Don't let them get you down. And if something's hard, come ask me. Okay?"

"Yes. Thank you."

I smiled at Lim Sol. Advice from a senior — I ought to take it to heart.

"And just in case... never compare yourself to me."

"Excuse me?"

She'd been saying all these nice things, and then she dropped that? Lim Sol made a few thoughtful noises, scratched her head, and continued.

"It feels weird saying this about myself, but... I'm a genius. Show me any magic circle and I can understand it. Give me a minute and I can replicate it. I was born with a monstrous amount of mana, and my affinity for natural mana is off the charts. So... don't go comparing yourself to me and tanking your self-esteem. I've already got more than enough mages doing that. If my own disciple starts getting jealous of me too, I'll never hear the end of it."

She'd delivered the whole speech with an intensely serious expression, only cracking a small smile at the very end.

Lim Sol's message could be boiled down to a single sentence: don't compare yourself to me. She'd wrapped it up playfully, but beneath the concern for me was an enormous, unshakable confidence. The kind that said, No matter how hard you try, you'll never catch up to me.

She'd told me last time that I was already stronger than she'd been at twenty. For her to say something like this anyway... it meant she could grow even faster than I was growing. And I couldn't call it arrogance. Whether you looked at what she'd already accomplished or at her current ability, there was no denying she was still far ahead of me.

But still...

Even if she was just a stork warning a sparrow not to break its legs trying to keep up. Even if the words were genuinely meant to look out for me, however rude they sounded. Saying something like that in front of a man is a provocation, Professor.

I let out a dry laugh.

"I appreciate the concern, Professor. I'll be sure to keep it in mind."

"Mm-hmm. Good. That's my disciple — always such a good listener."

Lim Sol's smile turned a little wry. She clearly knew how those words would sound to anyone else. The fact that she'd said them to my face anyway meant she trusted me that much.

Somewhere along the way, Lim Sol had started thinking of me as someone she needed to protect. But that wouldn't do.

A man who hides behind a woman?

I couldn't do that. I liked to think of myself as a champion of gender equality, but when it came to men and women, I was hopelessly old-fashioned. It was a male instinct — the drive, etched into my genes, to always be the strong one in front of my woman.

"But Professor."

"Hm?"

Lim Sol looked at me curiously. I matched her earlier seriousness as best I could.

"Don't assume you'll always be ahead of me. I intend to give this everything I've got."

I acknowledged her talent. I acknowledged her hard work. But there was always a sky above the sky. No matter how brilliant Lim Sol was, I was confident I could catch her.

"Pfft."

Lim Sol snorted as if she couldn't believe what she'd just heard — then broke into a wide, brilliant grin.

"You just made it even harder to surpass me, you know that?"

"...Really?"

"Yep. But go ahead and try. Who knows? If you actually pull it off, I might even grant you a wish."

Lim Sol was smiling with genuine fondness — the kind of smile you give a cute disciple showing off.

"Oh? You won't take that back, right? The wish?"

"Of course not."

There was real affection in the way she looked at me. There was no question about it — we'd grown closer than we'd been before coming to the expo.

There it was. Her affection had gone up quite a bit. Watching Lim Sol sip her chocolate latte, looking thoroughly pleased with herself, I felt a little proud too.

"Shall we head back to the expo?"

"Sounds good to me."

We left the café in high spirits.

Lim Sol and I wandered every corner of the expo, taking it all in.

"The magic circle on this one would be a nightmare to control. Not that it's particularly good, but it's usable enough."

This was supposed to be a date, but it felt more like a private lesson held outdoors. Well, as long as she's enjoying herself. Professor Lim Sol looked happy, so I supposed you could still call it a date.

We walked. And walked. And walked some more.

"I'm exhausted."

"...Same here."

Lim Sol and I sat down at the central fountain to rest. It was already past noon, creeping toward one o'clock. The original plan had been to skip only the morning classes, but if we lingered any longer we were going to miss the afternoon ones too. Time to start wrapping this up.

I spoke to Lim Sol, who was using magic to cool the air around us.

"Coming here was a good call, right?"

"...Yeah. It really was."

The smile she gave me was so clear and unguarded. Of every smile I'd seen from her, this one was the most genuine.

"I feel like all my stress just melted away thanks to you. Why is it that I always feel so at ease when I'm with my disciple?"

"That's all you, Professor. A brilliant disciple and a brilliant professor — the perfect combo. I had a great time too."

And I meant it. Just walking around with a beautiful woman would have been enough, but the expo had actually been pretty interesting in its own right.

"S-so, um, about that."

"Yes?"

Lim Sol suddenly looked away, staring off into empty space. It was a posture I'd never seen from my usually self-assured professor. There was even a faint flush coloring her cheeks — she was completely unlike her usual self.

"Since I already... filed today as a field trip anyway. I'm not trying to force you or anything, and only if you're okay with it. Yeah. If you don't have anything else going on... maybe this afternoon we could..."

I found myself drawn in by her words, watching those rose-colored lips move slowly — and that was when it happened.

BOOM! KRA-KRA-KRAKOOM! THUD—!

Explosions started going off all across the expo grounds.

"AAAAAH!"

"S-stop! Please stop!"

"Wh-what the hell?!"

I shot to my feet from the fountain, scanning the surroundings in a panic. Smoke and screams erupted from every corner of the venue. Crowds of people shrieked as they fled the blasts, and chaos spread through the expo like wildfire.

"It's an attack! We're under attack!"

"Demons are disguised among us! Watch each other!"

"Ah, shit..."

I should have been paying closer attention. I'd written it off as something other than a terrorist event that put a heroine's life in danger. That malevolent energy I'd sensed earlier — it must have belonged to a Demon.

I ran through the situation at speed. A Demon terrorist attack of this scale had to be Pandemic. Probably one of the countless attacks that never appeared in the original story. It wasn't related to any of the heroines, but if I was here, I had a duty to stop it.

A way to shut this down fast...

My thoughts landed on Professor Lim Sol, still sitting right beside me.

"Professor! There's a terrorist att—!"

But I couldn't finish the sentence. I could see Lim Sol's fist, trembling.

"...Professor?"

"These sons of bitches..."

I'd never heard Lim Sol's voice sound that cold. A nameless chill seemed to roll off her and wash over me.

WHOOOOSH—

Mana began to rise from Lim Sol's body. The volume was so immense that blue mana leaked out of her like heat haze, and I could only stare at our professor in awe.

Lim Sol. A genius mage of unparalleled talent — the most gifted in the entire setting — who held a visiting professorship at Victoria Academy while still in her twenties. But I had never actually seen her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠go all out. I'd only ever helped with her research from the sidelines, and she'd long since withdrawn from the field to focus on her studies. Even during the Celestial Festival terrorist attack, I hadn't truly felt the full weight of her mana. She probably hadn't been serious then.

This time was different. The presence radiating from her body... it surpassed even Isaac and Rebecca.

SNAP.

Lim Sol, having drawn her mana to its absolute peak, flicked her fingers. In the same instant, mana surged outward from the tips of her toes and swallowed the entire expo grounds.